[MIRABEAU, VICTOR DE RIQUETI, Marquis de]. L'Ami des hommes, ou Trait de la population. Avignon [Paris: Herissant], 1756. 3 parts in vols., 12mo, contemporary cats-paw calf, heads of spines chipped, extremities rubbed, two morocco title labels lost; lacking engraved frontispiece, supplied in facsimile. First duodecimo edition of the first 3 parts, published the same year as the original edition in quarto format. Mirabeau's treatise on the dependence of wealth on population, in which he argued for free enterprise and a more equitable system of taxation, created a sensation throughout Europe and went through approximately 40 editions in several languages. Parts 3-6, which included Quesnay's analysis of physiocratic economics, were first published in 1758-1760. Barbier I, 133; Kress 5544; Tchemerzine IV:749b. (3)